McCarthy on Tampa

Mike McCarthy told reporters today that special teams coach Shawn Slocum “has done a good job” and that the problems on the offensive line are “correctable.”

He said a bunch of other things, too. But I’m not sure it’s worth discussing them.

Because Mike McCarthy told reporters today that special teams coach Shawn Slocum “has done a good job” and that the problems on the offensive line are “correctable.”

What more can I say?

UPDATE: PFT’s Gregg Rosenthal, far less prone to hysteria than PFT’s Mike Florio, mocks McCarthy in a post this afternoon. “McCarthy is either delusional or not doing a good job fixing the correctable mistakes, which certainly include Rodgers’ penchant for holding the ball too long.” It’s never a good sign when your analysis from your head coach becomes a punch line.

19 Responses to “McCarthy on Tampa”

It is absurd to say that the special teams coach ‘has done a good job’. The last two games they have given up huge kick returns in pivotal parts of the game. If it is not the coaching then MM must think it is the talent. This on a team that has nine linebackers and three full backs. Ridiculous. I couldn’t have been a bigger supporter of TT and MM after the 2007 season and even after the Favre debacle. Now, I wonder if Favre really wanted out because he saw in TT and MM what I am starting to see now: two guys that don’t have the ability to get the Packers to the next level.

He says this crap every week. That’s why we have the same problems every week. Because in McCarthy’s mind, we have no problems.

On the whole sack issues, i thought of a good idea that could fix the whole thing. So after a game, the film will be studied to determine for every sack in the game, if each sack was the O-Line or Rodgers fault. If it is someone from the O-Line, then they must “get sacked” too during practice. How this works is that person raises his hands above his head and legs spread apart while Rodgers stands in from of him but 10 yards away with a football in his hand. Rodgers then gets to drill the offensive lineman in the sack with the football. Once someone goes through this they will never allow a sack again. This can also improve on the QB’s aim. Also, a video of each lineman that gets “sacked” will be on packers.com. Problems solved, no more sacks. Am I going a bit overboard you say? Maybe, but it’s better then doing nothing, which is the MM way of things.

He is right that the issues are “correctable”. The problem is that he is not.actually.correcting.them. (emphasis added) Just like my our dog barking at the sound of the doorbell is correctable. If I don’t actually do something other than tell her to shut up, it doesn’t fix itself. It’s not rocket science, MM.

Special teams, O-line play, crushing penalites due to some undisciplined players…it’s all a pattern that everyone is able to see, except MM himself. I put the odds of him being back next year as slim short of the team going 8-0, 7-1, or 6-2 the second half. (I put the odds of any of those scenarios as slim as well given yesterday’s performance)

But after exiting Raymond James Stadium, he was not in step with the fervent, knee-jerk section of Packers fans who wanted everybody in the organization fired immediately.

Murphy said Monday that he left disappointed in the way the season has gone but confident enough in the team’s structure that it could bounce back from consecutive losses that dropped its mark to 4-4.

“Obviously the loss to the Vikings at home (Nov. 1) was an emotional loss,” he said. “It was, I think, disappointing for our fans, and the loss yesterday was disappointing. And it was for us. Everybody in the organization felt it.

“I think we’ll bounce back. I’m hopeful and expect that we’ll make the changes that we need to end up having a successful season.”

Whatever those changes are, they aren’t going to be implemented by Murphy. The Packers’ top executive said he is in regular contact with general manager Ted Thompson, but in no way wants to stick his nose into the football operation at the halfway point of the season.

Murphy played eight seasons in the NFL and was co-captain of Washington’s 1982 Super Bowl championship team, so he knows a little about how a season can go. He also knows the team is in danger of missing the playoffs for the fourth time in five years under Thompson, a string that would bring the Packers back to the dismal days of the 1980s.

But rather than act now, he said it’s better for him to sit back and let things play out before making any judgments about the football operation. He said he would do as he did last year in his first season as president and CEO and wait to see the final outcome before conducting a review.

“The goal is we want to win games and championships,” Murphy said. “Right now, we’re not where we want to be. But I’ve been around the NFL long enough that a lot can happen in half a season. I’ve seen it both ways – teams that start out great and fade and teams that start out poorly and come on at the end.

“The right thing is to wait and do a thorough evaluation at the end of the season.”

Murphy said the job the coaches do in turning the tide on a season in danger of going under will be part of his evaluation. He said he believes the proper structure is in place for such a turnaround and that it isn’t necessary for him to bring in a consultant to review the operation.

“Really, in terms of my evaluation, I think part of the job is in terms of our coaches, do they make the adjustments and changes that are needed throughout the year to make the team successful at the end,” Murphy said. “That’s part of the process. To have the full season to evaluate it, it makes sense. There’s no question we’re disappointed where we are, obviously coming off a very disappointing loss to Tampa.

“I think we have a great structure in place and it has worked.”

Murphy said he receives input from the executive committee and board of directors, but he said they are an advisory board and the decision on how the franchise moves forward is his. He said he has heard the fans’ frustration with losing twice to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings and understands their sentiment.

His response is that the season isn’t over.

“The fans are extremely passionate,” Murphy said. “I think there’s a sense of disappointment where the team is. Hopefully, we can make the changes we need to get the team going in the other direction and challenging and getting a playoff spot.”

On the football side, coach Mike McCarthy said he was not considering any changes in the structure of his coaching staff to address a continuing problem with the offensive line and special teams. Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin was a well-respected line coach before moving into his present position, but he said McCarthy has said nothing to him about directly overseeing the offensive line.

McCarthy said that he, Philbin, offensive line coach James Campen and assistant line coach Jerry Fontenot all have expertise with coaching the offensive line and that he has no concerns about how the line is being trained. He said first-year special teams coach Shawn Slocum has changed the philosophy of previous years for the betterment of the unit.

“Our problems to me aren’t teaching and scheme,” McCarthy said. “They do not fall in that area.”

McCarthy said he did not think it would do any good to bring in somebody from outside to offer an assessment on why the Packers lead the league in sacks allowed with 37. Both he and Philbin said the problems aren’t with players not understanding the scheme or lacking training, but rather making physical and mental errors at the wrong time.

“I think anytime you are in problem solving, it’s about applying solutions,” McCarthy said. “It’s obvious what has gone on in our particular failures in that area. There are other options as we move forward, and those are some of the things we’ll look to in certain situations.

“We don’t need wholesale change. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I have all the answers, but I’m very confident in the issues that we’ve had in pass protection, that they are correctable.”

What in the hell can the guys in the locker room be thinking about this? Would you want to go out and bust your ass for a guys who basically throws you under the bus like this?

On the other hand, what if he’s right? What if they DO in fact go out and practice fundamentals, blocking schemes, snap counts, etc. Then every Sunday it’s the same mental errors & just plain lousy blocking. I mean someone certainly missed a block on that punt block. The guy walked in untouched.

MM certainly can’t go out and play for them.

This means that TT drafts players that don’t have the skills to play at an NFL level and can’t even be taught how to get to the next level.

It ain’t the talent, dude. We’re the Giants ever the most talented team? No, they were on the same page, as a unit.

The Patriots consistently stock themselves with older veterans. Why? Not because they are the most talented, because they can be coached.

Some teams have more talent, but at the end of the day, look at the majority of Super Bowl winning coaches. They are generally the Elite of their field. Lombardi, Landry, Knoll, Madden, Shanahan, Belichick, Dungy, Holmgren, ETC.

Does MM fit in that group? Uhhhhhh… NO!!!!!!!!!!

He’s a moron.

It’s more than Xs and Os and talent!

Your coach has to be a GENERAL! He has to rally the troops, get them fired up, and send them in to battle!!! That’s what they want and need.

MM is a loser. He couldn’t lead a rich, desperate housewife to the mall.

Ryan, by no means am I a TT advocate and I want him gone. It just appears to me that maybe Barbre is not NFL level talent. Look what happened in the 2nd half after Tauscher left. Just like you said about the Patriots–because they can be coached. It appears to me when a player consistently gets beat out week after week it’s not just the coaching.

Now carrying 3 FB’s and 112 LB’s, that’s a FO problem. Consistently abandoning the running game. That’s a coaching problem. I’m just concerned that we may have a few players on this team that may be of no value to anyone which means that’s exactly what we’ll get for them in a trade attempt.

Yeah, FB at PFT is me. Sometimes I plagiarize my own stuff around the boards.

Gotta agree with you. It’s little of everything. Best look you’ll get at a team’s depth is to look at how their special teams plays. That’s where your depth players make their money. The deeper you are, the more dominant your special teams are. We have no depth, obviously.

We’re failing on all levels here. We have a team when we need a system.

TT should be a good leader, but doesn’t have to be.. MM has to be a damn General, and he’s a wide eyed grunt. He’s all Xs and Os, no spirit.

MM doesn’t have the heart of a champion or the ability to lead men.

Do you think troops fought for Patton because he had the perfect game plan? Hell no, they wanted to win for him, they would have done anything. He points a finger where to go and they thunder a path to it. Simple as that.

We need General Patton… We have General Confusion.

Seriously, for the life of him, McCarthy cannot understand why his team can’t win. You can see it in his eyes. He’s truly baffled by it!

Here’s why: MM fancies himself as an Offensive Genius. He believes that all he must do is show the players the Xs and Os, get them to remember where everything goes, and that’s it. He has no concept of how even a talented football team needs a general.

Favre was our General. He didn’t have to call the plays, or come up with a brilliant scheme. He just had to point his finger and say, “Let’s go!”

Guys killed themselves to win for Favre. Look how hard even modest receivers played for Brett. He had it. He was a General.

Fair or not, McCarthy has always struck me as a mediocre coach and leader.

McCarthy was a journeyman assistant coach whose record of success in the five years prior to his 2006 hiring by Thompson was unimpressive at best. Look back at his body of work in San Francisco and his last four years in New Orleans – not very pretty. Then with that lackluster résumé, Thompson hires him – not as quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator – but Head Coach?

The only bright spot during his time in that position, of course, has been Favre’s final season in 2007. With Brett and the old QB’s leadership and confidence departed, McCarthy has faltered badly even with a similar talent pool available to him.

I also have to admit that McCarthy’s inability to string even two or three intelligent sentences together when speaking bothers me. The well-spoken Lombardi or Holmgren he is not.

As many have said before, Thompson’s hiring of McCarthy and his effective rejection of the opinionated and charismatic Favre seems to indicate that Ted, above all else, wants no powerful personalities is his midst who might effectively question his methods.

Bob-I think your last paragraph is a pretty good assessment of Ted’s personality. He doesn’t want to put himself in a position where he might have to have one of those “difficult conversations”.

Ryan, in case you haven’t deduced it already, I’m the guy who asked if you get to Packergeeks much and then came back with a “my bad” because you posted there first. Laughed pretty heartily both times I read it.

I’m really concerned about Murphy’s stance on this whole deal. I’m hoping that as I read in a comment from one poster, maybe not here, that Murpy’s comments about “we’ll wait til the end of the season” were his way of quietly saying he wanted to kill them (TT & MM) with his bare hands. I am extremely concerned that MM’s going to be the whipping boy here and we’re still going to be stuck with TT. I hope & pray that’s not the case.

There is a time when a nose does need to be stuck in football business and I’m pretty sure we’re there. I just don’t see W’s against Dallas or the Ravens and God help us if we lose to Detroit. Again, I am no great football mind & obviously turning it around and running out the season could change a lot of thinking. Don;t see it happening though.